Lewis: Now and Then
by JAK1978
Summary: My POV and observations of how Lewis has changed and grown from being a Sergeant working with Morse to being an Inspector now and the relationships he has with the people throughout his life.


**My POV and observations of how Lewis has changed and grown from being a Sergeant working with Morse to being an Inspector now and the relationships he has with the people throughout his life. **

Detective Inspector Robert " Robbie" Lewis used to be a happy go lucky, chatty person with a carefree attitude. He could chatter away to anyone listening. He was a happily married man with two children doing a job he loved. He was a family man with a demanding job but managed to balance the two when he was a Sergeant to the infamous Chief inspector Morse.

_That was then, before his world fell apart for two main notable reasons. _

His relationship with his then superior officer, Chief Inspector Morse was a difficult one and strained at times. It was a hard relationship to sum up but someone once asked him if he liked Morse his response was "it was bit like a marriage, except I already had a wife!"

That to me, pretty much summed up this relationship with Morse. They used to squabble, have tantrums and with both of them from different backgrounds there was always a class war going on but at the same time they had huge respect for each other and formed an unlikely friendship, in fact Lewis thought of Morse as some kind of Father figure in the end.

So when Chief Inspector Morse died something died inside of Lewis too as he lost the man he grew to love (which is something he never admitted even to himself until it was too late). He finally got the promotion he had always wanted and because of the 15 years he had spent working with Morse, he has been able to use that experience to become a Detective like him.

The other reason DI Lewis is the shadow of his former self is the death of his loving wife Valerie. Just as he was getting used to life without Morse and being an Inspector, his wife gets killed in a hit and run accident just before Christmas 2002. This rocked his world and those of his now grown up children, so much so that his son ran off to Australia and stayed there. Lewis hardly speaks to him and rarely mentions him in conversation; for it seems that Valerie's death has created an estrangement between them. His daughter, Lynn however, is in constant contact even though she has moved to Manchester.

After realising he couldn't cope with doing his job in Oxford, which was now haunted with the ghosts of Morse and Valerie, he decided to take a job on attachment to the British Virgin Islands for two years to help with his loss. It helped a little, but realised he would have to face going back to Oxford one day_. That day came in July 2005. _

Upon his return, he was surprised to be met by a Detective Sergeant James Hathaway at the airport, and after working together on his first case back was even more surprised when DS Hathaway had given him first refusal to be his Superior Officer, considering the two of them couldn't be more different, but then you could have said the same thing about Lewis and Morse? In a role reversal for the Inspector, Lewis became the older working class northern one and the Sergeant was the well-spoken educated younger one.

Unlike with Morse, Lewis formed a strong partnership with Hathaway pretty quickly. Lewis referred to him as "Jim" very early on, for which Hathaway obviously didn't mind. They had found a common ground in the fact that they were both private people and that their personal lives were well, "personal". DS Hathaway found out quite quickly that the subject of his boss's dead wife was a prickly one and that there were lots of demons in Lewis' past, but then again DS Hathaway had a few of his own personal demons to contend with.

They worked well together, often bouncing off each other, so much so that their boss Chief Superintendent Jean Innocent once referred to them as the "dynamic duo!"

Despite their good working relationship however, they still had yet to become close out of work, although they would often hang out at Lewis' place for a beer, Lewis wouldn't consider themselves true "friends" as Hathaway was an immensely private person , somewhat mysterious, which Lewis found frustrating at times. Then again Lewis has become, since the loss of his wife, a private person with "a lot going on inside his head" as Hathaway once said to Chief Superintendent Innocent, when seeking her advice about when to tell him about Simon Monkford, the man he discovered, during a case turned out to be responsible for the death of Valerie Lewis five years ago.

Although they weren't that open and honest with each there was no doubt a huge bond and respect between the two men. Lewis has been frustrated with Hathaway for not being honest with him especially when it involved a case, like the death of his old school friend Will. He held back so much information that was vital to the case, that an annoyed Lewis found himself for the first time shouting at him and telling him off for lying to him. Despite that he was concerned for him as the killer in this case, had then targeted Hathaway for his part in Will's death, as he turned to him twice to help but was rejected and because of that found himself in grave danger – which Lewis saved him from.

He saved his Sergeant's life which I think was the turning point in their relationship.

There was however, another time when Lewis was frustrated with his Sergeant's actions and found himself telling him to take some leave, when he had compromised a case by sleeping with Scarlett, a girl, Hathaway knew from his childhood while investigating a murder at the place he had spent as a child, as she could have been a suspect.

This made Lewis turn to Dr Laura Hobson (a colleague of nearly ten years and a friend with an unspoken but obvious attraction between the two) about it and realised that despite the fact that Hathaway once again lied to him, he found himself respecting and liking his Sergeant and told Laura "He is an awkward sod, but he's _my_ awkward sod" meaning that he wouldn't want to work with anyone else.

Talking of Dr Laura Hobson, there is this will they, won't they aspect to their friendship that has engulfed them. They seemed to have grown closer since Lewis came back to Oxford, for he has now morphed into Morse, the eternal bachelor having the occasional "date" or drink with a woman he meets through a case but they all end in disaster.

For Lewis has only ever been in love with one woman and he couldn't ever imagine falling in love again. He thinks he is too set in his own ways, with a demanding job and the ghost of his wife will always be there. He doesn't think anyone would be able to put up with him, except possibly Laura, who would understand the demands of the job as they work together and she is in the same situation.

The fact that they do work together though could be the reason why they have failed to get anywhere, they have had dinner and drinks together and even a failed overnight trip to the opera. Either its work that gets in the way or people from their pasts reappearing .There is always something stopping them.

They obviously like each other and even Hathaway and Chief Superintendent Innocent has picked up on it but they just seem to be doomed from the start. When will either of them finally admit to each other how they feel and end the loneliness they both endure in their lives outside of work?


End file.
